Meta has committed roughly $600 billion toward AI infrastructure and related U.S. jobs over the next decade, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan confirmed on Squawk Box. This investment will fund data centers, GPU clusters and housing for AI talent. In 2026, Meta’s capital expenditure on servers and networking gear is expected to grow by 40% year-over-year, supporting its Llama AI model and other proprietary research. Investors should note that while upfront costs will pressure operating margins in the near term, the enhanced recommendation engines for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp could drive at least 15% higher ad revenues by 2027, according to internal forecasts.

Meta’s Reality Labs division cut 1,500 positions globally last week, with 331 roles eliminated in Washington state alone. The Redmond office was the hardest hit, followed by the Spring District facility in Bellevue, according to state filings. These headcount reductions follow Reality Labs’ cumulative spend of over $23 billion since 2019 and are intended to streamline development of VR and AR hardware. For investors, the move signals a shift away from loss-making consumer devices toward more sustainable software and services, potentially improving Reality Labs’ segment adjusted EBITDA by up to $500 million in fiscal 2026.

Sensor Tower data shows that Reels accounted for more than 50% of all Instagram advertising in 2025, up from 35% in 2024. In the U.S., time spent in Reels climbed to 46% of total Instagram usage, compared with 37% a year earlier; on Facebook, vertical video time rose to 29%. While Reels monetization is currently lower than feed posts, Zuckerberg disclosed in late 2023 that Reels’ annualized ad revenue run rate surpassed $50 billion. Analysts forecast overall ad revenue growth of 12% for Meta in 2026 as advertisers shift budgets towards short-form video formats.

Market intelligence firm Similarweb reports that Meta’s Threads app now attracts approximately 141.5 million daily mobile users, overtaking Elon Musk’s X at around 125 million. This milestone underscores Meta’s ability to leverage its existing social ecosystem—integrating Threads with Instagram and Facebook logins—to capture share in the microblogging market. Continued feature rollouts, such as AI-powered conversation summaries and cross-platform publishing, are expected to drive Threads’ user base past 200 million by mid-2026, offering new monetization avenues through native advertising and premium content subscriptions.